Managing the information explosion: An iManage perspective

On Global Information Governance Day 2026, leaders across the legal industry came together to mark the occasion by discussing a challenge that continues to intensify: how to govern, secure, and extract value from an ever‑growing volume of information. In a special episode of InfoGov Hot Seat, Aaron Rangel, Director of Product Management at iManage, shared how organizations can turn information governance from a defensive necessity into a strategic advantage. 

This is a reality that many law firms face today. Information is no longer confined to a single system. Content lives across document management systems (DMS), email, collaboration platforms, and external tools — creating risk, inefficiency, and uncertainty. Effective information governance is now foundational to data security, compliance, and readiness for AI. 

The question now is: How are organizations expected to reconcile the need to leverage ever-increasing quantities of information while also maintaining stringent governance — and doing so at scale, to boot?  

The information governance challenge: scale, complexity, and control 

According to Aaron, the most common issue organizations raise is managing the sheer explosion of digital content across multiple applications, while ensuring governance teams have instant visibility into where engagement data resides — enabling them to govern, protect, transfer, and dispose of it with confidence. Without visibility and consistent governance, ROT content — redundant, obsolete, and trivial — accumulates unchecked, driving up costs and exposing organizations to unacceptable levels of risk. 

This challenge is compounded by modern ways of working. Teams collaborate across internal and external boundaries, often duplicating documents in applications like email, Teams, or SharePoint. Each copy introduces governance gaps and content sprawl, which can lead to bigger problems as AI tools are rolled out and start to act on enterprise data. 

Three governance priorities for 2026 

To address these realities, iManage is focused on three core information governance priorities in 2026: scaling electronic governance, modernizing defensible disposition, and strengthening the DMS as a single source of truth by meeting users at their place of work. 

First, scaling electronic governance means ensuring that organizations can manage tens, or even hundreds, of millions of records without performance or operational limits. This requires modern, cloud‑based foundations capable of handling large‑scale disposition while maintaining security and auditability. 

Second, modernizing disposition is about meeting today’s volume, risk, and compliance demands. Legacy approaches that rely on duplicating metadata and security models are no longer capable of scaling to meet the breath of information in question. Modern disposition workflows must operate where content lives, apply safeguards by design, and deliver transparency throughout the process. 

Finally, strengthening the DMS as a single source of truth helps organizations enable collaboration without losing control. By supporting secure co‑authoring — both internally and with external parties — organizations can reduce content sprawl while preserving governance, security, and accountability. By sending collaboration links to contractors and external parties, the need to copy and govern duplicate copies of content in third-party applications is eliminated. By meeting users where they work — in Teams, Outlook, etc. makes it easy to do both — share links to content in the DMS without creating copies, as well as bring in new content to the DMS    

Moving beyond strategy to measurable impact 

A recurring theme throughout the discussion is time to value. Information governance programs succeed when they move quickly from planning to execution. With the right approach, organizations can begin running defensible disposition workflows within weeks, applying retention policies, approvals, and automated notifications to safely reduce ROT. 

Real‑world results underscore the impact. Aaron shared the example of the records team at Hanson Bridgett and how they used iManage Records Manager to dramatically increase productivity and reduced storage costs by allowing them to tackle their management of 30,000 boxes of physical records dating back to 1965. They were able to go from disposing a meager 10 files at a time to 500 to 600 files per month, representing a total cost savings of over $100,000 since its adoption.  

A practical starting point for information governance leaders 

For organizations wondering where to begin, the guidance Aaron shared is intentionally pragmatic. Rather than attempting to solve everything at once, identify a single low‑risk content category and execute a defensible disposition pilot. This approach builds momentum, delivers quick wins, and creates confidence across stakeholders. 

As information volumes continue to grow and AI adoption accelerates, strong information governance is no longer optional. It is the foundation that enables secure collaboration, trusted data, and responsible innovation. 

Taking the next steps 

Watch the full InfoGov Hot Seat episode from Global Information Governance Day 2026 to hear Aaron Rangel’s insights firsthand.  

Ready to turn defensible disposition into measurable impact? Visit the iManage Disposition Manager page to learn how it helps organizations apply retention policies and safely dispose of electronic content, at scale and directly where it lives.  

For organizations looking to adapt to the rapidly changing regulatory landscape by streamlining the management of both physical and electronic records, iManage Records Manager also offers a centralized, defensible approach to managing the entire lifecycle of defensible approach to managing the entire lifecycle of physical and electronic records, helping organizations stay compliant as regulations continue to evolve.